1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to composition determination techniques, and more particularly, to non-destructive, in-situ elemental profiling.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, determination of a composition or elemental profiling of a film, for example, in the semiconductor industry, requires testing in a location out of the manufacturing environment. Unfortunately, removal of a product from the manufacturing environment creates a number of disadvantages. First, any removal of a product from the manufacturing process increases processing time. Second, it prohibits “on-the-fly” adjustments to process conditions, e.g., gas flow rates, annealing temperature, pressure, etc. Third, conventional testing is dependent on statistical sampling because the product tested is assumed to have the properties of the lot from which it is taken.
Another shortcoming of conventional elemental profiling techniques is that they are destructive to the test product. For example, two common techniques are secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) elemental profiling and auger elemental profiling. Both of these techniques, however, are destructive techniques. Moreover, each must be conducted ex-situ of the manufacturing process.
These and other deficiencies in the prior art are overcome through the invention.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a non-destructive in-situ elemental profiling that does not suffer from the problems of the related art.